NEW YORK, NY – The president made his much controversial appearance on The View!

NEW YORK, NY – The president made his much controversial appearance on The View!

President Barack Obama went through with his appearance on The View and touched on a variety of current issues. He said Thursday that the racial firestorm that led to the ouster of a black Agriculture Department official was a “phony controversy” generated by the media. He said his administration overreacted by forcing her out.

Obama said on ABC’s daytime talk show that the forced resignation of Shirley Sherrod shows racial tensions still exist in America.

“There are still inequalities out there. There’s still discrimination out there,” Obama said. “But we’ve made progress.”

Sherrod was forced to resign after a conservative website posted an edited video of her speaking about race. Sherrod said the video took her remarks out of context. When her full remarks were discovered, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack apologized and offered Sherrod a new job at the department.

Obama shared his displeasure with the media and the picture they painted of the incident. He blamed the media culture for the way the situation unfolded, that they seek conflict at the expense of the facts. He added, however, “A lot of people overreacted, including in my administration.”

Obama’s interview with The View was the first appearance on a daytime talk show by a sitting president.

The president side-stepped a question about whether actor Mel Gibson should go to anger management classes, joking that he’d rather answer a question about the war in Afghanistan. He also seemed to have no knowledge of “Snooki” from MTV’s “Jersey Shore.”

“Nobody wants to send me the real juicy stuff,” he said. “It’s all very official.”